by Tammi Lynn
Straightening up from his relaxed position, he says. “You’ll miss them, but there are a lot of friends to be made here.” His tone sounds suggestive, and yes, I want these guys to be my friends, but maybe I’m going to want a little bit more than friendship. I don’t know what’s gotten over me, I’ve never had a crush on so many guys at one time before. Dre has consumed my mind for so long that I don’t know what my normal is. Is it wrong to want all of them?
“I better go, but as I told you before if you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.” Yeah, I need you to grab me up, kiss me passionately, rip my clothes off and soothe the two-year itch I’ve been carrying around. I didn’t really ask him that, but now my imagination is running wild.
“Of course, I know where you live if I need you,” I say with a grin and a wink, a wink that probably looked awkward as hell, why did I do that? These guys have me too nervous, and I keep making a fool of myself. “I’ll see you later.”
“See you later.” He turns to leave, looking like he still didn’t get to say what he really wanted to, as I shut the door.
“Mom! Just leave the door open, there are still two more that haven’t come over.” Miklo yells to me, the little smartass.
“Haha! Funny!” I’m still leaning against the door when there is another knock on it.
“Told you!”
Looking through the peephole and seeing the same pimply kid from before, I yell back. “It’s just the pizza guy this time.”
I open the door and reach out to hand the kid the twenty that is still in my hands from when I opened the door for Jayson.
“Oh no, ma’am. Your neighbor caught me as I got out of my car and paid for the pizza for you.” Taking the pizza box from him, I look over towards the guys' house. I don’t see anyone, but I’m betting it was Jayson. My heart swells, he’s too much.
“Thank you.”
“No problem, have a good night!”
As he leaves, I once again close the door. Heading back into the living room, I place the pizza box on the coffee table, open it up and grab a slice. Miklo grabs one as well. As I’m mulling over the guys in my head, he looks over at me with a smile, like he wants to say something.
“What?” I say when I can’t handle his curious look anymore.
“So… Which one do you like?”
“Which one of the neighbors?”
“Yeah, It’s obvious they like you, and you do this weird stuttering thing whenever they talk to you.” Dang, I didn’t think I was that bad, I need to up my game if my kid is noticing shit like that.
I think it over. I actually like all of them. How could I not? They are all drop-dead-gorgeous and seem to all be super nice. Well except maybe Cade. That one I’ve only talked to once and he never even said a word back to me or smiled.
“Well, I don’t know Bubbs I kinda like all of them, Except maybe Cade, I don’t think he likes me. Is it weird I like all of them?”
“No, that’s not weird. You should try talking to them more.”
“What is this all about? Do you want me to find a boyfriend?”
“I just want you to be happy, mom, and you deserve someone who will treat you right.”
I choke up a little, my kid is the sweetest. I clearly did something right. “Thank you Bubbs, we’ll see.”
The movie has ended, and Miklo has finished eating. He stands up to head to his room. “Well I’m gonna head to bed, Love you see you in the morning.”
“Love you, see you in the morning.”
As he closes his door, I grab the remote and put on a romance that I’ve wanted to check out for a bit. I wrap the blanket around me and snuggle into the couch. I’ve barely made it through the credits when my phone starts ringing, Dre’s ringtone bringing me love and loathing at the same moment. I’ve had too good of a day to deal with him though. For the whole week actually, I’ve been avoiding his calls and text. They are all loving and begging me to come back one minute to sending hate and blame in the next ones. I let the ringtone fade away, and a minute later, a voicemail comes through. I’m just about to listen to it when I hear a knock at the door.
Setting my phone back down, I get up to answer the door. It’s now eight at night, and I’m not sure who it could be. Maybe, my aunt, she’s supposed to be back in town now. I hadn’t heard from her yet except when I called to grill her about Jim. My aunt and my new employer are definitely together. She got all giddy and lovestruck when she went into detail about their relationship and how she was actually just on a short vacation with him to Yellowstone. I’m so happy for her, everyone deserves love.
I look through the peephole, but my light for the front must be out because I can’t see who is on the other side. I decide to go ahead and open it, and I am not disappointed. Dressed in a pair of dark jeans that are stylishly faded and a long sleeve black henley, that’s pushed up to his elbows and showing off his fit body is Roman.
“Hey. Did you bring me some cookies?”
“Hi, wait-what?”
I can’t help but to laugh, Jesse must not have told him about his Roman’s baking cookies ruse. “Jesse came over earlier for three cups of sugar, said you were baking cookies… In an apron and everything.”
Looking at him now that image of him in nothing but an apron assault my mind again, and I try desperately not to start drooling, the view of him from behind is especially delicious. Better than any cookies that’s for sure.
His jaw ticks and I can tell he’s thinking about hurting Jesse later. “Sorry, no cookies. My brothers an ass, he just wanted to come over and see you.”
“And you? How can I help you?” Anything, I’d do almost anything.
“I… Well I just wanted to come and see you too. Can I come in?”
You can come anywhere you want. Honestly.
“Oh, yes, of course.”
He comes inside and shuts the door behind him. Following me to the living room, he sits next to me on the couch, my movie still playing in the background. I turn with one leg up on the couch to face him. I drink him all in, he seems so big next to me. All four of these guys are six feet plus and packing muscular bodies.
“So it looks like you’ve gotten all settled in. How do you like Sammamish so far?”
“Well I haven’t seen a whole lot of it yet, but loving it so far. Especially the weather, back in Arizona, it is still in the hundred degrees.”
I hear Miklo’s door open and a second later see him peek around the corner. Roman’s back is to him, and Miklo gives me a huge grin and shakes his head, turning back around to go to the bathroom.
“I noticed the Arizona plates on your truck, what brings you to Washington?”
I’m running from a corrupted love, I’m trying to find myself again, to find real love, someone who will love me back and make me feel like I’m enough. Someone who makes me feel like I’m worth loving.
“It’s a little personal, but I just needed a change in scenery. ” I can feel myself unconsciously scooting closer to him on the couch, my knee is brushing lightly against his leg, and I can feel the heat from his body. We don’t know each other at all, but it is super comfortable between us, and I find myself relaxing into the atmosphere.
“Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. Just trying to figure out all things, Mia” He gives me a smile while teasing and my eyes zero in on his sculpted sexy lips. I have the sudden urge to just lean in a little closer and kiss him, to pull his bottom lip in between my teeth and bite it. I slowly lick my lips with the thought, and his eyes watch the motion, his legs shifting to adjust himself.
“It’s okay, just not quite ready to talk about it yet” A sex scene in the movie starts on the screen, and I feel like the temperature in the room has risen twenty degrees. My whole body starts buzzing, and I can feel the tension and desire between the gorgeous man on the couch with me. “I feel like we made a good move, though, and this place will be just what Miklo and I need.” Oh my God, I feel like I’m panting and my heart is drumming a rock song
in my chest. Have the moans in romance scenes always been this loud? Really though, are we positive this isn’t a porno?
He places his hand on my knee, and I feel a shock go through me. If he would just trail his hand up further… “I really hope it is, and the guys and I are glad to have a new neighbor. Especially one like you.” Like me? He chuckled and ran a hand over his jaw, “I actually wanted to ask you something…”
He stops saying what he was going to say as my text notification goes off. I pick up my phone and read the text, It’s from Dre, and I feel my smile drop when I read it. He just won’t give me any time.
Baby Daddy: Answer the phone Ma, I want to talk to you, I miss you.
I quickly put a smile back on my face and turn back to Roman. “Sorry about that, what were you going to say?”
Indecision crosses his face, and I know something’s changed. “Oh, you know what I completely forgot what I was going to say. I’ll have to ask you another time.” What did he want to ask me? I know he didn’t forget, I can see it on his face. “Well, I better get going. It’s getting late, and I hear you have your first day of work tomorrow.” Hmm, what else do they say about me to each other?
Standing from the couch, he gets up as well, and we head to the door. When he opens it, he turns and grabs my hand, doesn’t shake it or anything just holds it for a second before letting it drop back down. I love the feeling of his hands touching me, I want him to touch me more. “I’ll see you around?”
“Yup, probably more than you’ll want to since we live so close,” I say with a chuckle.
“I doubt that. Goodnight Mia.”
“Night, Love you, see you in the morning.” Fuck me, what did I just say? “I mean goodnight Roman, sorry, just used to saying that to everyone.” The blush creeping up my neck and cheeks has got to be fire engine red.
“It’s more than okay. Goodnight.” He turns, his eyes dancing with amusement and something I don’t understand, and leaves. I can’t help but watch his ass in those jeans until he gets to where it’s too dark to see him anymore from the light spilling out of the front door.
Grabbing my phone from the couch and turning off the movie, I decide to head into my bedroom and turn it back on in there to fall asleep to. When I get snuggled in my fabulous new bed, I play the voicemail that Dre left me.
“Ma, Baby, please answer the phone for me? I want to talk to you, I love you, and I miss you. I don’t know what I’m going to do with you and Miklo gone. Please, Baby, talk to me. Lisa’s out shopping, just call me back, okay? I love you.”
I’m not going to cry, I’m not going to cry. Dre sounds so honest, and I want to believe him so bad, my heart hurts for him. I miss him too. But I can’t let him get to me, our relationship was toxic. More than that, didn’t he just state the fucking problem right there? ‘Lisa is out.’ He wants to talk to me in secret because no matter what the two of us would never be together.
I quickly fall asleep after that, the visits from the day, giving me good thoughts to fall asleep to.
∞∞∞
Roman
I’m gonna kill my brother. Okay, I won’t kill him. I love the asshole, but I am going to hurt him. He would play something like that. Always joking around from the time we entered kindergarten. This morning he, Jayson, and I had a little bet going on regarding who could ask Mia out first. She’s all we’ve been able to talk about for the last week. I can’t stop thinking about her, and it’s been a long time since I’ve actually wanted to get to know a girl, and I want to know everything about her.
I’ll admit my brother, and I have been considered players for some time now, but we’re thirty-four and Mia makes me want to settle down. She has that calm and warm energy that makes you want to stay by her side for every moment of every day. Out of the four of us, Jesse and I are the only ones that haven’t been in a serious relationship. Jayson was with Emma’s mom, Lilith, for four years. He even moved out of the house for two of them. Cade was with Nichoal for five years before she… well, no one wanted to think about that if they didn’t have to.
More to point? We had that bet going all day. Jesse went first, and upon return announced that he had failed, that he tried but just couldn’t do it. I did notice the bag of sugar on the counter, shithead. Then Jayson went and failed as well, although I’m sure he scored some points grabbing the pizza kid, Tony before he could get to her door. I had watched amused as he paid for her pizza and sent him on his way.
Then it was my turn since they failed. I was so confident I knew I was going to ask Mia out... but when she opened her door, somehow making an oversized shirt and too big for her basketball shorts look sexy? I lost some of my confidence. I’m not cocky… Well, I can be, I mean I’ve never had a hard time with girls before. But with Mia, I just couldn’t even really think of what to say. We sat on her couch, and when she brought her knee up to turn towards me, and it brushed my leg, my dick twitched. What was I? A teenager? I mean shit. What was this girl doing to me?
I was getting her to tell me a little about herself and a scene in the movie she was watching turned practically porn-ish. Looking over at her, she slowly licked her bottom lip, and my dick didn’t just twitch but started to harden in my jeans. I had to shift a little to hide it. I just had to touch her and placed my hand on her thigh where the basketball shorts had ridden up. I wanted to trace my hand further up and under those shorts.
When I finally got the nerve to ask, her phone notified a text, and she picked it up to check it. When she looked at it, her face fell, and I could see the pain in her eyes. Who the hell made her hurt like that? Hopefully, I never meet the asshole, or instead, he should hope I never meet him. I couldn’t ask her after that, she needed more time, I’m going to have to tell my brothers to lay off for a while.
I decided to leave after that, and she followed me to the door. I wanted to grab her and put her against the wall, to kiss her till she couldn’t breathe. But all I could manage was to grab her hand and hold it for a second. Her hand was so small against my own large one. I felt the sudden need to protect this girl in any way I could.
Reaching our front door, I stroll in and go up behind the couch that Jesse’s sitting on and slap him upside the head.
“What the fuck was that for?”
“Really? Cookies?”
He starts busting out laughing, and it takes a while before he can say anything. “Oh fuck, that was hilarious! I even told her you had your very own apron.” That’s all he can get out before he starts busting out, laughing again. Jayson is on the other couch that’s against the wall, and he starts laughing too, apparently clued into what Jesse said to Mia. Cades just watching us all with a confused look on his face.
“You guys fucking suck.” I start heading up the stairs when Jayson yells up at me.
“So did you ask her?”
“No.” I explain more seriously looking at the three of them, “And I think we need to leave her alone for a bit, give her more time. Something she said makes me think she’s running from something, and… I don’t know, she just seems so broken.”
I want to be one of the ones that help her put those pieces back together. You could say I had issues with trying to help the broken ones after my mom passed. I continue up the stairs and head to my bedroom.
Chapter Five
Oh, Pickle
It’s the next morning, and I woke up early, not wanting to be late for my first day of work. I dress in a black pantsuit, black pants, and jacket with a teal button-up underneath. I bought this outfit specifically for today, wanting to look my most professional. My hair decides to be crazy today so except for a few wispy curls in the front, I throw it into a tight bun.
“Mom.” I hear through my bedroom door. “I’ve gotta leave now.”
I go and open the door. I know I’m biased, but I’ve got a cute kid. He’s wearing a red shirt and black Dickies shorts, and a pair of black and red shoes. The red looks nice against his naturally tan-colored skin. He has big brown eyes
and a head full of dark extra curly hair, falling in large curly ringlets on his head.
I smile at him and snap a quick pic before he can object, I wrap him in a hug. “I love you, Bubbs. Have a good day at school, and be careful on that bike.” Since school isn’t far from us, he decided to ride his bike to school every day until it gets colder.
“I will, mom. Later, Love you.”
“Love you. Laters.”
He turns and heads down the hallway, I hear the front door open and close as he leaves. I go back into my bathroom to finish up my make-up, before grabbing my purse and heading out the door. Earlier in the week when we checked out Miklo’s school, I had also gone and found the location of my new job, so I wouldn’t get lost today.
It’s only about a ten-minute drive from the house to my new job at Empty Pockets, taxes, and accounting business. Parking the truck I head into the front doors, and I’m super nervous and excited at the same time. I always feel this way when I start a new job. It's ridiculous because I've started so many new jobs with moving around Arizona, I should be a pro.
When I get inside there is a long counter spanning the front of the room, and there are three desks behind it, two of them occupied, and I can see a hallway going back to the right. One of the ladies behind one of the front desks gets up and approaches the long counter. She seems to be about my age, has short blonde hair, and blue eyes. She has a smile on her face as she says, “How can I help you today?”
“My names Mia, I’m supposed to start work here today.”
“Oh! Yes, of course. Jim told us you would be coming in today. He isn’t here quite yet, usually gets here about eight-thirty. I’m Cassie, and that’s Felicia over there.” The other girl gives a wave and a smile as she’s been introduced, she looks to be a little bit younger than I am with long brown hair and brown eyes.
“Come on around behind the counter, and we can get you settled in and show you around.”
She points me to a section of the counter that lifts up, and I go through it to where the desks are. I follow her as she leads me to a desk bare except for a computer, phone, and the necessary office supplies. “This will be your desk. The computer is all set up for you, there’s a sticky note with log-in and password, that you can change as soon as you get in.”
